The City Never Sleeps
by Allie29
Summary: Finn Hudson was tired of this bullshit. Noah Puckerman had the worst hangover of his life. Rachel Berry was hitting rock bottom. Quinn Fabray had never heard the word no before. Four people, four dreams, one city. New York. Where strangers could suddenly become family.


**A/N: Hey everybody! This story is a Finn and Puck centric but it also focuses on Rachel and Quinn. It is co-written by Allie29 and staythenight. This is our first try at a multi-chapter Glee story and the first time we collaborate to actually write a story together. Just a little warning before you start to read, English is not our first language. Hope you enjoy the story! **

You know, there are a lot of different things going on in a big city. Lots of different people, each one of them are living a unique and not always wonderful situation. Some of them are just going home after a bad day at work, others are trying to find the missing piece in their life. Some of them are just lost in a world they never understood and while some think they have everything, others are finding out that their dreams were maybe impossible. They all have different lives, different goals and different things on their mind. But one thing they do have in common? They never really thought their lives were so close to fall apart.

Rachel Berry was one of a kind. She wasn't that special when you looked at her but she had that thing, you know the THING, that can melt anybody's heart. Well, that's always what she thought. In her mind, people parted ways when she walked down the streets and when somebody asked her for a tissue, she had to sign it before giving it (which, admittedly, earned her a few strange looks and made her look quite crazy). That confidence was the thing that radiated from her at first sight. Without that confidence, she probably would have never had the guts to come to New York to try it out at her big dream, the dream so many others had when they first came here: Broadway.

She was 18 when she first walked on the 5th and the 6th avenue, when she saw Times Square and Central Park. That was when her dream seemed to be more reachable because everyone knew New York was THE place where everything could come true. Where everyone could have their happy ending.

Now, at the age of 22, she could proudly say that she had graduated for NYADA with grades that would make Barbara Streisand jealous. Yes, you read right, Barbara would most probably die for Rachel Berry's grades in the famous school. Okay, maybe not. Barbara had achieved other things that were remarkable as well. Like becoming a star. like achieving Rachel's ultimate goal. You see, at this point, Rachel always thought she was going to be a star. Since the first time she sang Don't Rain On My Parade when she was 3, she knew she was going to be a Broadway singer. It wasn't an option for her. It was what she was meant to be, and nothing else.

She had always been on top at her old school, with her involvement in 13 clubs and being the star member of a winning glee club. In her mind, it was bound to continue.

But it just wasn't happening. The one always at the top found herself touching rock bottom more frequently than she ever thought she would.

That's when she felt her feet slip onto something and her ass hit the floor. Hard. And then she knew she couldn't get any lower than that.

" Do you need help? "

" Don't even think about it! Maybe I'm a girl but I'm a strong and independent woman and I can stand up alone! "

Finn Hudson was tired of this bullshit. His group had just lost a guitarist due to the fact that he had recently acquired a cat and he didn't want to leave it alone during the repetitions (yes they had tried bringing the fur ball along with them, turns out cats and loud music aren't such a good mix). After that, nothing seemed to be working out. Well, it never really did, they weren't exactly famous. They played in Artie's parents' garage for God's sake! They had been playing there for the last two hours and after a while, Finn just couldn't take it anymore. He had a terrible headache and well –

" Stop guys ! STOP! I think if we continue like this I'll become deaf or something. We freaking sucked! "

" What's wrong? I mean, yeah, you were a bit off-key sometimes but we can get pass that! " Sam Evans, Finn's friend and the usual drummer of the band but currently playing the guitar, said.

" I can't play the drums and sing at the same time dude! I'm a guy, doing two things at the same time is against my nature or something. "

" He has point there Sam. " The other member of the group, Artie Abrams, added.

" Last time, I tried to write and eat at the same time... It was as awful as when you get the least kills in COD. "

" Dudes, that's not the reason we suck. We need a guitarist, you can't just be three in a band! We're not the Jonas Brothers! "

" We're not even related! And we don't have the nice curly hair... " Artie said, his thoughts trailing off and his hand immediately going to his short and straight hair.

" We could do some awesome auditions, like in X-Factor! Man, they did discover One Direction. " Finn suggested.

" Yeah, but we need to get people to come to those auditions. We'll need to publish announces in the newspaper and shit like that. Give flyers, I don't know. " Sam added.

" Guys, we could create an event on Facebook ! Even homeless people have Facebook nowadays. "

" That's right, the guy always dressed as Santa Claus near the grocery store added me last week... " Artie said.

After that, they spent the rest of the day making cool posters with Justin Timberlake's face on it (none of them seemed to question the fact that they were looking for a guitarist and that Timberlake was not one). They also made an awesome Facebook post about Darth Vador and how his life would have been much easier if only he had music. Even though they had to break their little pig to get money to publish in the newspaper, Finn knew it was worth it. Hey, what wouldn't you do for fame? He could feel it in his soul that this thing was going to work.

The sun was starting to set when the three guys parted ways. Finn started the 25 minutes walk he had to do get to his apartment (you really thought this guy had the money for a car?) with one thought in his mind: maybe for once life was finally giving him an opportunity to feel worth it.

Let's just say that he always thought of himself as a high school hero and life zero. He was raised by his mother since his dad died when he was just a baby. He always wanted and felt the need to live up to what his father was and he wanted to make his mother proud but here he was at 25 years old in New York with big dreams and no money.

He never went to college. He only had his high school diploma. Back then, he didn't know what he wanted to do and he got rejected at the only place he applied to. He never had any plan B, which wasn't his smartest move. But hey, he wasn't exactly known for his brains. At first, he had thought he could become a football player, then an actor (don't ask where he took that idea) and after that, the only thing that seemed right was joining the army. After all, he wasn't the first lost kid to enrol himself because of his lack of options... right? At the time, he was 100% sure that the army was going to be his new life. He was tall and, even though he lacked the stereotypical six packs, he was strong enough. He had passed all the physical tests but his destiny changed when they verified his eyesight. Not good enough.

He had lost hope for a while after his rejection. He had been good at something and his-sorry for the language- fucking eyes had to screw it up for him. He had sulked for a few weeks but then his friends Artie and Sam came to him with this new project of theirs. A band. Music. It was one of his biggest passions in life, but he had never considered it as seriously as any of the others, like football. The guys helped him to do that. They helped him find a new dream that he strongly believe he could achieve with time (and a job to Starbucks on the side).

He was lost in all those thoughts when suddenly the woman in front of him fell on the floor, right at his feet. This being not exactly the context in which he pictured a girl falling at his feet before (he dreamed more of a fan too excited to see him in a rock show or something like that), he tried to be a gentleman like his mother taught him and proposed his assistance.

" Do you need help? "

" Don't even think about it! Maybe I'm a girl but I'm a strong and independent woman and I can stand up alone! "

As she stomped away, he couldn't help but think that this girl was way too intense and probably crazy. She had what all dudes called the crazy eyes. He was not used to girls like that, with his girlfriend being noticeably calmer. Yeah, maybe he wasn't living the most exciting love life but he knew he was lucky to have a girl like that and it's with this thought that he arrived in the apartment he shared with his lovely girlfriend.

" Hey babe! I'm home! " No answer. " Quinn? "

Quinn Fabray ... what can we say about her? She always had everything she ever wanted. She was born in a wealthy family. When she asked for something, the world around her had to stop to please her. When she was 5 years old, she asked for a unicorn (don't be scared we know it doesn't really exist). Her dad had to buy a horse and tape a birthday hat on the animal's forehead to grant her wish. At 17, she asked for a car and her dad had given her nothing less than an Audi. Of course, he also paid for her to go to Yale. The least we can say is that Quinn wasn't used to hearing the word no.

She was 23 years old when she met Finn Hudson. She had gone to a bar with her friends to celebrate the fact that she was finally done with her studies to become a lawyer and she almost immediately spotted the tall guy singing an eighties song on the little stage. After a dare from her friends, she had approached him with the confidence of a slightly tipsy girl. At the end of the night, she had gone back to her apartment with his number and the hope that he would call her soon enough.

He did call her... four days later. They had started to see each other in a casual way and when she had wanted to make things more serious, he had showed a bit of hesitation. In a very Quinn Fabray way, she had done everything in her power (which was a lot, believe us) to convince him that she was right for him, that she was more than a pretty face, that she was worth dating. His acceptance to be called her boyfriend was another proof that, no matter what, Quinn Fabray always got what she wanted.

So that's how Quinn thought she had everything to be happy. She had a good job and a beautiful apartment on the 5th avenue with her handsome boyfriend. But she couldn't hide the fact that sometimes she felt like something was missing in her life. Finn was not the type of man that brought money in the house. He only had a part time job and a band that wasn't going anywhere. But hey, she had feelings for him and, for the first time, money wasn't all that Quinn cared about.

Her dad had always wanted her to get married to a guy who had a bright and successful career ahead of him and who was able to bring home the bacon. Let's just say that Finn wasn't the man he had hoped his daughter would end up with. So as time passed, less her dad was there to help her financially. It's not like she really needed any of the help from her father but it always had been a plus.

" Hey babe! I'm home! "

She jumped a little bit at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.

"Quinn? "

"Over here "

Noah Puckerman woke up with his head throbbing from having one or maybe two ... ok, let's just say too much drinks. It wasn't something new for him. Nights like yesterday's often ended up like this: him having the biggest hangover somewhere he had never seen before in his life. His father had developed a drinking problem over the last few years but Puck knew his own limit unlike his dad. When he was about 1 year old, his parents broke up. He went living with his father. From time to time, his mother came by to see him but one day, she didn't show up like every other Tuesday night ... and that was it. She never came again. But could he really blame her? Who would want to have a kid with a bastard like his dad? Who would want to have a kid that wasn't made with love and hope?

He sat up on the bed, looked curiously at his surroundings and after thirty seconds, he finally noticed the mystery girl next to him. All he could think about was how fucked up he was at the end of last night. Of course, he remembered doing not so catholic things with this girl but hey, it wasn't his fault: he was a hot sex shark and he had needs.

He got up, put some clothes on and left a note to the girl saying that he was thankful for the night and that he had really enjoyed it. Noah left the apartment and hopped in his truck, heading for his own place in Brooklyn. He had rented the place a week ago when he first arrived in town for personal reasons.

When he reached his destination, his first thought was to open his laptop to do the most important thing of his day: go on Facebook (we're aware that he doesn't really have order in his priorities). Fun was now over; he had to get back to the real reason why he came here.

He went on the profile of a guy he sort of knew and his eyes were attracted to a post about Star Wars (his current underwear were proof that he was a fan). As he read, he became aware that it was much more than what he thought. It could be a life changing occasion for him. It was what he had been waiting for. The guy's band needed a guitarist and one thing Puckerman knew for sure was that he could rock any girl's world with his fingers' abilities: he had rock star potential. Yeah, maybe he was one of the thousands of guys working in the construction, but he was much more than that. This suck-ass band was going to be famous with the Puckster in it.

**A/N: So that was the first chapter! We hope you guys enjoyed it and if you did (and even if you didn't really), please leave a review. We'll try to update as soon as possible.**

**Love you gleeks!**

**Allie29 & staythenight**


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